WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama said yesterday that European leaders face an "urgent need to act" to resolve the region's financial crisis as the threat of a renewed recession there spells dangers for an anaemic US recovery five months before elections.

Speaking a week after a dismal US jobs report, Obama said decisions about how to solve the euro zone crisis are fundamentally in the hands of Europe's leaders and that showing political commitment will be a "strong step."

"They understand the seriousness of the situation and the urgent need to act," Obama said, uring the US Congress to pass measures he proposed last September that would create jobs in construction and state and local governments, while noting that private sector employment was looking better.

Obama has cited the "headwinds" from Europe's sovereign debt crisis as a big reason why US growth is struggling to gain speed. But he has also sought to deflect the blame towards Republicans in Congress for thwarting his proposals to put more Americans back to work.